The Disease Resistant Personality

Its not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it (Hans Selye). Indeed, research reveals that there seems to be a certain personality type that is less prone to chronic disease. People displaying these personality traits will on average live longer, healthier, more productive lives. Image Credit: Dunca Daniel

In today‘s world of high-tech, highcostmedicine, one thingbecomesself-evident. Despite forallpracticalpurposesunheard of medicaladvances, the pervasiveness of chronic diseaseputs into questionwhetheror not we are on therighttrack with our medicalresearchandwhetheror not there might be otherapproaches to curtailchronicdiseasessuch as cardiovascular, renal, arthritic, and yes, evencancer.

Thispost will attempt to scratchthesurfaceanddelvedeeper into comparativelynewresearch.Thisresearchrevealsthat there indeedseems to be a certainpersonalitytype that is lessproneto chronicdisease.Peopledisplayingthesepersonalitytraitswill on averagelivelonger, healthier, moreproductivelives.

You may thinkthatonlyseriousdiseaseorintensivephysicalormentalinjury can causestress. This is false. Crossing a busyintersection, exposure to a draft, orevensheerjoy is enough to activatethebody’s stressmechanism to someextent. Stress is not evennecessarilybadforyou: it is alsothespice of life, foranyemotionanyactivitycausesstress. But, of course, your system must be prepared to takeit. Thesamestress which makes one personsick can be an invigoratingexperienceforanother (Selye, 1956).<Tweet This Now>

These are thewords of Dr. Selye, one of thepioneers on thestudy of stressandhowstressaffectseveryaspect of our lives. Our immunesystem responds to anystressor that is presented be that stressor goodorbad. Unlike mainstreamconsensus, we can actively choosehowstress will affect us in theshorttermandthelongterm. Howwereact to stress depends on our genderandon stressbuffers, which cushion theimpact of stress.

Thesebuffersinclude a sense of control, physicalfitness, a sense of humor, socialsupport, self-esteem, optimism, howwe cope with stress, andwhatone researcher callsthe “hardiness” personality. Research about some of thesestressbuffersshowsthattheyindeed might positivelyaffectimmunefunctionwhenfaced with otherwise stressful situations. Forexample, a German studyconducted on patients with cardiac insufficiency foundthatpatientsperceived their diseasemoreseverelyandhadworseoutcomeswhentheyweredepressedandhadlimitedsocialsupport (Scherer M. et. al., 2006).

Anotherstudylooked at the interrelationship of stressandthemanifestations of stresssymptomsamongst high-income men, when hardiness personality, stressors andsocialsupportweretaken into account (Acosta, 1990). Acosta foundthat in theexecutives, that stressor and hardiness personalityeach uniquely played a significantrole in stressmanifestationbutsocialsupportdidnot. Whenthe predictorswerecombined there wasa significantcorrelation in stressmanifestation (Acosta, 1990). Theauthor hypothesized thatdue to theuniquepositionof top-levelexecutives, andwhat is perceivedto be a highstressjob; there would be significantstressissues. Theauthorfurther hypothesize based on previousresearch, thosetop-levelexecutives “…have less stressors, more hardiness characteristics, andhighersocialsupport” (Acosta, 1990). The researchers concludedthattheonly predictors of stressmanifestations are the stressor itself, and hardiness personality (Acosta, 1990).

This would openup an interestingdiscussion in comparingthe stressors themselves as to howthesamecategory of stressor is perceiveddifferently by eachexecutive. Anotherinterestingmention by theauthorwasthefactthatdue to thehighoccurrence in theexecutives, the “hardiness trait” becomes a constant in thisparticulargroup (Acosta, 1990).

Itseemsthat hardiness personalityindeedplays a role in theadaptationto stressful situations as shown from theaboveexamples. And with that there is also a directcorrelation to themanifestation of disease. One would thinkthatbecause of theexecutive’s highstressjob, they would succumb to thesamechronic diseases nonexecutives do? An executive’s goodhealthmight also be contributed to otheraspects of thediseaseresistantpersonality. Hardiness becomes a clearfactor in diseaseresistance.

Butwhat about socialstatus? Could thatplay a rolealso? Itclearly is obviousthattop level executivesenjoyhighersocialstanding than mostmortals. Researchers foundthe following traits to contribute to a diseaseresistantpersonalityalso. Being of the Mormon faith, being a nun, a symphony conductor, andpeoplewho are listed in the Who’s Who. Hereare othertraits that directlycontribute to thediseaseresistantpersonality. How one managesangerandhostility, depressionandgrief. Genderdifferencesplay a majorrole in howwe cope with stressful situations, substanceabuseormisuse. Howwehandlecommitment, control, challenge, andcoherence. And of coursethehealthfulchoiceswemakealsoplay a majorrole in diseaseresilience.

Howdoes one develop a diseaseresistantpersonality?

Suzanne Kobasa, a leading researcher in thefield of PNI andthe hardiness personalityhasthefollowingadviceforus. Itinvolves two exercises. Thefirst is by compensatingfor a stressful event that is beyond one’s controlsuch as a suddendeathin thefamily, orloss of a job.

Howdoes one compensate?

By focusingtheenergythat would ordinarilygo into dealing with theevent that is beyondone‘s control, on a newchallenge, that will be within therealmof onescontrol.

Thesecondstrategy is to reconstruct stressful situations by recalling a particularly stressful event. Try to remember as manydetails as possible, then one needs to startwriting down three outcomes that could havebeenworse, andthree outcomes that show an improvement to thesituation.

Andhere is whatthisexercisedoesforyou:

Itmakesyourealizethatthingsdidn’t turn out as bad as they could have, putting a newperspective on stress. Theimprovedversion of the stressful event will joltone‘s creativemind on how to deal with thesituationbetterthenexttime, which will relievestress about thefuture.

Thefinal, mostimportantrealizationcomes from thesense of controlthat is achieved by teaching a personthatthey can influencethewaylifehappens. Thisis theverypremise of resilience, thefeelingof controlandtherecognitionthatyou are ultimately in charge of theevents that happento you.

How about you? Do you have a favorite technique to deal with stressors small and big? Let me know in the comments…

Selye H. (1956). Thestress of life [Yes, this is an affiliate link. If you buy this from me, I’ll earn coffee money so I can stay up at night writing posts like this]. New York, NY: McGraw Hill. Preface

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About Werner Absenger

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